Converter and smelter



T. MILLER. CONVERTER AND SMELTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 221 i918.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

lh/venten attorney ma couv/AIM vLANoanAPlIl C0.. vlAslllNa'roN. D c.

T. MILLER.

CONVERTER ANID SMELTER. APPLICATION FILED IIIAII. 22. ma.

Patented Aug. 26, i919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Omvang MILLER. CONVERTER AND -SMELTEF?.

PPLICATION FILED MAR 22 19| '1,3 1 4,348. Patented Aug. 26, 1919 l 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

2O and of use asaiunit or. in multiple, within 25 Awith-1` theV primary combustion chambers y ED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

THEODORE MILLER, 0F WAGO, TEXAS.

CONVERTER AND SMELTER.

To all whom t may concern.' yBe it known that I, THEODORE'MILLER, a citizen ofy the .United States, residing at Waco, in the county of McLennan and State of Texas, have invented new and fuseful Improvements in Converters and Smelters, of which the following is4 a specification.

` The object of the invention is to provide a simple, relatively inexpensive and efcient converter and smelter mechanism for use in connection with a crushing apparatus, and designed for the employment of liquid, gaseous or solid fuel, in powdered'form,eunder such conditions as toiinsure the most satisfactory reduction 'of the material and drainage or Yremoval fromthe converter. i Further objects and advantages will, appear hereinafter, it;being understood a that the i illustrated embodiment .is susceptible to changesin form, proportions, and details,

the scope of the appended claims, without departing from thespirit of they invention.

the drawingsf-r- .i

".-Fi'gure `1` is a side view of the apparatus,

shown iny dotted lines. i a ,Figu2 vis a verticalsectional yview on the planeindicated byline 2-2`of Fig. 1.

*Fig 3 is a section on line 3-3 ofFig. A1l f. n Fig. 4 is a sectional view `in detail ofa combustion chamber. i 1

i Fig. 5 is an inner face view of one member of 7a combustion' chamber.

lEssentially the apparatus, which is designed to receive crushedore from suitable devices and' through appropriate means, consists of a revoluble converter 10 of cylindrica'lforinmounted upon yterminal supports 11 and l2.` On the interior this converterv which l"comprises .an outer shell 13 is providedwith :shaft of the cylinder.` Means lis provided for..rotating .the cylinder and thecombustion chambers in opposite directions, and in order that thecyllnder may be permittedto Irevolve, theterminal `supprrtsl on which it is `carried also s`upport. a` cradleby Vwhich the cylinder isldirectly supported, the cradle aside fromA supporting` the` cylinder providingy means rfor .rotating the same.,

?A;,shaft7 19\isjournaled. in appropriate bearings carried by the two supports 11 .and

Specification of Letters Patent.

' gears 20.

Patented A110. 26,Y 1919.

Application led` March` 22, 1918. Serial No. 224,026.

12, and this shaft has mounted thereon the gear wheels 20. There are mounted for rotary movement in appropriate bearings also carried by the supports 11 and 12, the shafts 19", but the bearings for the latter stand in a higher plane than do the bearings for the shaft 19, and further these bearings are positioned adjacent the sides of the supports 11 and 12, and thus provide for the shafts 19 lying one on either side of the shaft 19, but above the latter. The shafts 19a carry bed pinions 21,` these latter meshing` with the The cylinder 10 is directly supported upon these bed pinions `2l andcarries `the gear rings `22, which mesh with the pinions 21. The bed pinions are formed on both sides with flanges 22, which shroud the teeth of thepinions andproject radially beyond the edges of the teeth so.-that they may overlie the ends of the teeth of the gears .2O and gear rings 22. ItA will thus be observed that the cylinder 13 is precluded from longitudinal movement relative to the bed pinions,l and the latter precluded movement in thedirection of the length of Shaft 19. The latter, of course, is mounted for rotary movement in its attendant bearings hutis precluded from longitudinal movement, and,ltherefore, the cylinder and itscradle are sustained by the supports 11 and 12 in `such amanner as onlyto permit rotary movement of the cylinder.

The interior end of the shaft 19 is journaled in an appropriate bearing inthe wall 18, adjacent to whichthe converter stands and between this wall and the first gear` 20 it carries the pulleys 18, one of which may be employed as a means for driving the shaft 19 by being belted or otherwise connected to a suitable driving device such as an electric motor.

At that end of the cylinder remote from the wall 18l there is provided a metal tap or discharge orifice 27, positioned near the periphery of the cylinder and adjacent to this discharge orifice there is located the slag notch 28. When the cylinder is so positioned that the discharge orifice 27 islowermost, the contents of the cylinder ,may be deposited into the chute 29 and thencedischarged into a pit 30 from which they may be removed by conveyer mechanism 31.

:The cylinder is; supplied by a feedfconveyer generally designated A, 32. r-Thisfeed .conveyenhas a .pain of .feed-.Screws 335 "Y0-1 tatably mounted inntroughs, 34, the troughs communicating with a chute which in turn communicates with an annular feed opening 36 at the inlet end of the cylinderthat is, the end adjacent the wall 18a. The con- Y veyer screws ST5-are put vin motion through the medium of a pulley 34a, which is carried on a shaft 35a, the shaftJ being journaled in s appropriate bearing supports and carrying designed to receive ore prepared in the crushers or pulverizers indicated at 4 2. These pulverizers are of a conventional type, and after the ore has been prepared in the presence of water or'the like it is conducted to the conveyer` troughs `and thence fed into the chute '35 by the feed screws 33. The Crushers 42 are arranged each Atodeposit its prepared ore in one lof the conveyers 32.'- V

The combustion chambers 15of which any desired number may be employed and which also performthe function of agitators or stirrers, in that they are rotated in a reverse direction to theconverter cylinder are of refractory material. They are constructed'of twin disks 38 perforated ororiced as indicated at 39' to form intermediatek veins40. They are further formed'with annular members 50 concentric with their axis of rotation andk these annular Vmembers y50 divide f the combustionchambers radially.'V Oriced or open disks 51`are forinedvvithfthe disksSS and the oriicesQ'. insaid "disks, 'provide means whereby-the divisions'of ythe combustion chambers effected bythe annular members 50 are placed in communication with the other. The combustionfunits 15 are mounted on theV hollow shaft'lG hereinbefore referred `to, and .each of them "is formed with a thimble 53, which surrounds and is securely attached to said hollow shaft, the `thimble having perforations to register with perforations 41 Aformed inthe shaft, so that appropriateburners may be mounted in the perforations formed in thethimble to receive fuel through the perforations 41, formed in the shaft. Such burners lare ob'- vio'usly designedv forthe particular kind of fuel used with the invention. f f `The hollow shaft 16 is ournaledin both ends of the cylinder 13 and is closed at the `forward end ofthe cylinder, the shaft at the rearend 4of the cylindery projecting through the latter and passing throughthe wallflSa, having 'mounted lupon. it betw'een'the wall and the end-ofl the cylindertheV pulleys 17 by means'of which a belt maybe employed to operatively'connect the shaft 16 with the 'shaft 19. IObviously this belt must `be a crossed belt in order'that the combined combustion chambers `'and'stirrer's may bemrotated' in the reverse direction to the cylinder. That end 16El of the' hollowshaft `lis VYconnected with a source of fuel supply so that 1iquid. gaseous or solid fuel in powdered form may be fed into the hollow shaft 16- by anyH appropriate means. This fuel, ofcourse, passes to the burners through the perforations 41 and the flames thus resulting project through the orifices between the'veins40,1thedisks 51 and their orifices laterally out ofthe perforations 39adjacent that annular member. In the same way the outer of the annular members 52 permits the passage'of thelflame to the outermost orifices 39. i Hence, the flames are practically uniformly distributed over thewhole outer surface of `the combustion chambers: 15.

Therefore, when the kvcylinderv is"y supplied with a quantity of oreand-put inmotionwby the turning ofthe shaft 19, the combustion chambers are rotatedf simultaneously with thev cylinder but in "the'opposite'direction thereto. The flames.from these burnersor combustion chambers. are directed against thel metal vof the charge and obviously reduce the same, vthe (veins49 ofthe burners the while stirring and agitatingjthe charge.

This construction Vprovides fori'the subjecting of the metal-of ka charge'to a reducing heat While the metal is being effectively agitated to secureuniformity of treatment and economy ofv production, Vthe :cylinder-'15 beingprovided with radially disposedagitat'ors, which coperate with the combustion chambers in agitating the "charge as the cylinder is revolved.` Itwill be seen that'the arrangement of .burner chambers provides for the distribution of fuel throughout the cylinderand avoids thenecessity of using coke or charcoal for practice. Having described'theinvention, I claim l'. 'A converter havinga revoluble cylinder Within which is arranged a series .of revoluble, burner-housing, 7 refractory combustion chambers.l .l 2; A converterhaving a 'revoluble cylinder, a series of revoluble burner-housing, refractory combustion chambers, and means for rotating` said cylinder and chambers in opposite directions. f' f' 3. A converter having` 'a revoluble cylinder provided with interior agitators, la Vseries of revoluble, Uburner-housing, refractory combustion chambers, disposed axially' of the cylinder, means coaxial with the cylinder for feeding fuel, and means for *rotatdirections. f

fuel,` as in ordinaryl 4. A converter having a revoluble cylinder provided with a hollow shaft fitted with fuel vents, combustion chambers carried by said shaft and housing the burner vents,l

said chambers having orificed walls, and means for rotating the cylinder and shaft in opposite directions.

5. A converter having a revoluble cylinder containing a series of axially arranged hollow refractory agitators provided with interior burner vents, and means for supplying fuel continuously to said vents.

6. A converter embodying a revoluble cylinder, an axially arranged series of primary combustion chambers disposed within the cylinder, and a common rot-ating and pulley supply means for said chambers.

7 A converter embodying a revoluble cylinder, a plurality of oriced disks axially arranged within the cylinder, the disks being assembled in pairs to provide combustion chambers, and a common pulley supply means and rotating means for the combustion chambers, the disks comprising each combustion chamber having means to provide for the uniform distribution of the flames over the surfaces of the disks for action on the contents of the cylinder.

8. A converter embodying a revoluble cylinder, a series of axially arranged combustion chambers disposed in the cylinder, means for admitting fuel to the combustion chambers, and means for rotating both the combustion chambers and the cylinder, whereby the former perform the functions of stirrers as well as heating elements for the contents of the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

THEoDoRE MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

